Some Unfinished Business
by PrimeWhoLockian
Summary: After a year of living without her, Claudia comes back into Nick's life only to be faced by something or someone he didn't expect. Nick/Claudia Nick/Jenny
1. The Start

**So I decided to write something that wasn't Doctor Who and settled with Primeval because it's another favourite show of mine and I ship Click/Jutter way to much and needed a way to get my feels out, but if you have any suggestions for future chapters let me know!**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own any of these characters or the show, if I did then it would have been very different.**

* * *

As_ Nick walked back through the anomaly he looked at his team with a grin planted on his face which quickly faltered. "Where's Claudia?" They all looked at him surprised, "Claudia?" Lester asked with a hint of confusion "Where's Claudia Brown?" He repeated in his thick Scottish accent. _

_"I don't know anyone of that name." Lester merely stated._

_His body tensed, they had to be joking...Right?_

_"No, come on. Where is she?" Nick demanded growing more concerned._

_"We really.." Stephen cautiously stepped towards Nick "We don't know what you're talking about.."_

_"Never heard of her." Connor confirmed giving Cutter a sympathetic smile._

_Nick was becoming frustrated now, the joke was no longer funny. "Look, you've been working with her everyday for months!" He was raising his voice now "Don't tell me you don't know who she is!"_

_"No idea." Lester said without a second thought "Sorry."_

_Nick could feel his heart breaking within his chest, slowly cracking before shattering into a million pieces. He then grabbed Lester by the lapels of his jacket "Look, look, where is she!?"_

_He couldn't calm down until he heard Connor pull him back to reality "Cutter! We don't know her." Abby stood by him "No one knows her." Nick quickly let go of Lester and looked back at the anomaly, realization hitting him like lightning "Wait, something's wrong. This isn't right." He started "Something's gone wrong. Something's happened, something's changed. We've done something, we've.." He could hardly speak, never in his life had Nick Cutter been so speechless._

_Claudia. Claudia Brown had gone. Just like that, straight out of existence. "Something that we've done has changed the past and she's not here anymore." Abby, Connor, Lester and Stephen watch him apprehensively before Connor spoke up "It's closing.."_

_Cutter's eyes widened, he had to fix this. He had to bring back Claudia Brown, he hated to admit it but he loved her.. He sprinted at the anomaly "No. No!" Stephen grabbed hold of him keeping him as far back as possible "No I have to go." Nick shouted whilst thrashing around violently._

_"I have to make things right!" He shouted at the top of his voice._

_"Don't be stupid!" Stephen hissed "You'll get marooned there!"_

_Nick watch in terror as the anomaly snapped shut, disappearing leaving him lost and alone._

_o_

x

o

Nick sat at his desk absent-mindedly scraping dirt off of a fossil. How can Jenny Lewis be well that! She looked just like Claudia apart from her dark hair and need for make up. He knew there was beauty behind it all. And he stupidly enough called her Claudia when they first met.

He should have know that wasn't her. Never in a million years would Claudia dress like that.

This woman was an imposter, no matter how much she seemed like his beloved Claudia, he could not allow himself to come to terms with it all. Nick flashed back to the moment they had met yesterday, it couldn't be a coincidence.

* * *

_Nick stood in front of Abby and Connor talking about the days events "I'd like you all to meet your new colleague. This is Jennifer Lewis." Lester said rubbing his hands together. Nick could hear a pair of high heels approach him before stopping which was then followed by a familiar yet different voice "Jenny Lewis. Nice to meet you." Nick spun around realising his worst fear. This couldn't be happening._

_"Miss Lewis has been appointed to a senior position on the team. That means she answers to me, and you lot answer to her." Nick didn't hear a word Lester had to say " I didn't think we answered to anybody." Stephen said nonchalantly causing Abby and Connor to snigger quietly. "Scientists.." Lester sighed._

_"It's quite all right, James. I'm used to working with creative people. Please, do all call me Jenny." She said with a smile that didn't belong to her. Nick slowly approached her "Claudia." He stopped mere inches away "My name's not Claudia." Jenny answered with. "Claudia Brown."_

_"I think you're confusing me with somebody else." Stephen, Abby and Connor all exchange confused and concerned looks "No, I know that you think that your name's Jenny Lewis, but you're actually a woman called Claudia Brown. There's a good reason for this, I can explain it."_

_Lester quickly took the chance to interject "Yes, meet Professor Nick Cutter. A fascinating study of the tipping point between inspiration and lunacy."_

_o_

_x_

_o_

Opening his wallet he looked at the first picture he and Claudia took together. He'd never been so happy since Helen went missing, and then this woman kisses him in a bar and he's head over heels.

He had felt bad for acting like such a fool towards her so he took it upon himself to apologise to her.

x

_"Miss Lewis, please accept my apologies. It wasn't my intention to frighten you." He bowed his head ever so slightly, receiving a smile in return from Jenny herself " No problem. Now perhaps one of you can tell me what I'm doing here." Nick couldn't help but stare at her whilst Lester explain her job._

_She's impossible._

_x_

Earlier that day they had cleared out a building full of prehistoric worms, not the friendliest of creatures but a days work all the same. And he managed to call her Claudia again! This was going to become a habit that he would never get out of.

Something must have happened on the other side of the anomaly to cause this.. He had to find out what and he had to do it soon. It had to be something to do with the future predator, if they hadn't come through Claudia would still be here.

He spent the rest of the day trying to figure it out but every time he got close to a theory she would walk past in her confident stride. And every time she did he could help but notice the similarities and differences between the two women for instance.

Jenny was much more confident whereas Claudia was much more refined, both physically and emotionally.

Claudia had a thing for flipping her hair as she walked away, he had really hoped Jenny didn't do it aswell but she did. After coming back from the worm infested office she had taken all her hair down and did the exact move.

This woman was going to drive him crazy.

As much as he tried to hate her he couldn't she was too much like Claudia, for the rest of the night he just studied her. The way she spoke, the way she walked, the way she could notice you staring. "Can I help you?" She stood at his desk with her arms folded "Not particularly no." He said with a small smile playing on his lips "Then why are you staring? I thought I told you earlier not to do that?"

She had a point "Well maybe you shouldn't walk past my desk every 5 seconds." It was true, she speeded past at every moment and each time his eyes wandered to her "I have a job to do which entails in me walking around the building to sort paperwork. So will you please quit staring. You really know how to make someone feel uncomfortable don't you."

If looks could kill he would be stone dead right now, she held his gaze before strutting away, now how she expect him not to look after her?

She turned around at the last-minute catching him off guard causing him to look away and blush ever so slightly. Nick couldn't wait to get home and just forget the whole business for one night.

* * *

Today is his second day working with Jenny Lewis and she already thought she was the boss, he must admit she was good at what she did, finding different leads.

"It's Jenny." Abby said removing the phone from her ear, Cutter turned to her and leaned on the car "What?"

"She says the farm Stephen saw belongs to a man called West. But get this he used to import exotic animals, but lost his licence three years ago for illegally bringing in lion cubs." Nick nodded going to open the car door "Tell her I'm on my way." Abby nodded bringing the phone back to her ear "He's on his way. She said she'll meet you there." Abby said putting her phone back in her pocket.

"Why is she coming?" He looked genuinely confused "Doesn't trust you with the public." She said chuckling "Why is that funny?" He asked climbing into the car and heading down to the farm.

It was a short drive and he was there in minutes, he carefully approached the large broken barn. "What do you want?" A man appeared in front of him who Nick assumed to be Michael West "I'm from The James Lester Animal Foundation. You've probably heard of us. No? Never mind." Nick took a quick breath before continuing "We had a bit of bad luck, had to have a lion put down. I heard you could help us replace it?"

Nick looked at the man with hopeful eyes, "I'm not in that game." He grunted before carrying on walking "You're not feeding chickens with all that meat." Nick pointed out making the man stop.

"What's in the barn?" Nick asked innocently "Leave now." The man refused to look up at him "Not till you show me what's in the barn." Nick persisted, the man stepped forward "I'm warning you.."

"Mr West!" Typical but good timing Jenny came stumbling over "Jenny Lewis, nice to meet you. I'm sorry about my colleague, I said it was a dirty trick." She shot Nick a glare before meeting eyes with Michael "Trick?" Jenny nodded smiling "Trying to catch you out. We're from the Ministry, we had a report you might have gone back into animal importing."

"That's rubbish!"

"So it won't bother you showing us what's in the barn." She said sweetly glancing at Nick every so often, "It's dogs, that's all." He grumbled. Jenny stepped closer to him "I love dogs. Couldn't have a quick peek, eh?" She asked fluttering her eyelashes. Nick scoffed shaking his head at her, she is unbelievable.

"You'd better stay back." Nick grabbed her arm and pulled her back ever so slightly as the barn doors were wrenched open letting two rabid dogs run out barking "Unbelievable!" Jenny gasped "I'm breeding them for pets.."

"Pets?" Jenny was stunned "Guard dogs." Nick clarified, Jenny stood straight before nodding to the man "Thank you Mr West. Sorry to have bothered you." She quickly turned to leave with Nick following behind her.

"You're a flirt." Jenny faked a gasp "What?" Cutter smirked "You were flirting with him." Nick said knowingly, "I was just being friendly, your way wasn't exactly working!" Nick laughed "Well no, I don't have the eyelashes for it."

Jenny couldn't help but grin, she pulled him back making him face her "Listen, you do the creatures, I'll do the people." She stuck her hand out "Deal?" He laughed at her again before walking away with her in tow.

o

x

o

At the end of the day it turned out that one of the workers was keeping a saber-tooth tiger in her basement hoping she could tame it, but in the end well... It wasn't pretty.

But it turned out to be an okay day, he managed not to call Jenny Claudia, which in his eyes is a big achievement. But as soon as they got back to the ARC the ADD went off, so the group had to go deal with a giant bird from the Permian era, which didn't take too long.

The days events went through Nicks head as he sat sipping tea in his office, a knock at the door brought him from his thoughts "Cutter?" He looked up "Yes Clau-Jenny?" So close.. "I was just wondering if you needed a ride home?" Given he only lived 10 minutes away he could walk back home but his body ached "Yeah thanks, when are you leaving?"

"In about five minutes so finish your drink, I'll wait by my car." She quickly waved before wandering off. Not that he watches but she has a certain wiggle as she walks, something Claudia didn't have.

He decided not to dwell on that thought and quickly downed the rest of his tea, grabbed his jacket and made his way out to the car park. He spotted Jenny out immediately, stood by a small black Audi. Nick smiled "Typical civil servant car.." She raised an eyebrow "Got a problem with that? If so you can walk."

Pushing herself of the bonnet she quickly clambered into her car waiting for Nick who joined her shortly "Do you know where I live?" He asked "Yes." _That came out a bit quickly _she thought to herself "How?" He was currently pushing the buckle in "It's part of my job to know everything about the team.."

"Mhm..Of course." She rolled her eyes at him "Just shut up or I'm not taking you home." She quickly did up her seat belt and brought the engine to life.

They drove in silence occasionally stealing glances at one another.

"Who was she? Claudia I mean?"Jenny could feel Nick tense up beside her "Sorry, it's just you talk about her like she's still around.." She had stopped the car now, they sat outside Nicks home "Would you like to come in?" She shook her head best not, got a fiancé waiting at home." Nick nodded "Right well, goodnight Jenny."

He left the car and made his way to the front door, turning to wave before entering his house. Relief filled him as he slammed the front door shut, he should have walked.

Thank god for sleep, it was the only time he could get away from Jenny or Claudia. Well at least he thought it was, he dreamed of them both, it was frequent with Claudia but he never expected to dream about Jenny Lewis.

* * *

The rest of the week was eerily quiet, they only had 1 or 2 anomalies. Which was good except they had nothing to do but sit around the ARC, and that wasn't exactly fun especially with Lester whining at you to do something useful.

"Will you sort them out Jenny?" Lester asked as he went through a series of files on his desk "Sort them out? There is nothing to do-" At that moment the anomaly detector went off "Scratch that, bye." She quickly ran from his office to join the others at the site.

Cutter, Stephen and Jenny stood around an open drain "The boy's name is Lucien Hope. His friends said he seemed to be struggling with something." Jenny said standing above the two men "Did they see anything?" Cutter asked staring down into nothing.

"No." They all continued to stare "Maybe he just lost his footing?" Stephen suggested "No, the lids been lifted clean off." Cutter told him pointing at the lid beside him. "Water pressure?" Jenny asked.

"Could be..The rainfalls been below average for the month, and floods don't happen for no reason, which means the anomaly's under water." The first time they had an underwater anomaly Claudia had been there, she saved his life that day but he never thanked her.

After the three found out that it led to the canal they were on their way and there in minutes. "Abby, is there any way out of this canal?" Cutter asked slightly out of breath "The locks have been closed. It's completely sealed."

"Then it's still in here." Nick was looking out over the water "What is?" Connor asked "Not sure, but we have to find out fast. It'll be dark in a few hours." He turned back to Abby, Connor and Jenny who just came over "Jenny, you go in that boat with Abby and Connor. You see anything, call us!" Nick and Stephen quickly got into their own boat and sped off.

"We've been searching for hours, we're never going to see anything in this light." Stephen stated, Cutter ignored him "What's that over there?"

"There?"

"Where?"

"Can you get us a bit closer here?" They slowly moved over and pulled it out of the water with a stick "Looks like skin."

"Yeah from a mammal." They held it up in the light "Looks like whatever it is just shrugged it off."

o

x

o

Jenny stood and watched as Connor and Abby attempted to work together "Back up, I saw something!" Abby said with her head over the side of the boat "Where?" Connor asked trying to look for himself "That way, port, about 20 metres." He started to move the boat then stopped "I said port!"

"This is port!" Connor argued back "Starboard then! Just go, before it disappears!" Abby said slightly frustrated "How am I supposed to be telling which way to steer, if you don't know which way's which!?" Abby sighed "I've lost it now!"

"Oh great, great. You know what, why don't you give me a go?" Abby turned to him "What can you see that I can't?"

"Well maybe you've-" Jenny cut him off "Oh for heaven's sake! You two are arguing like a couple of kids over a toy! Look out-of-the-way I'll do it." Jenny began to move Connor when something hit the boat causing her to scream and fall over the edge.

"Jenny!" Abby shouted whilst watching her fall in "Jenny? Jenny!?" Connor stared to the water trying to find her "No, Jenny?" Abby shone the torch where she fell. JEnny quickly emerged from the water "What just happened?" Jenny looked around her "I don't know we must have hit something." Connor answered.

"Come on we'll get you out!" Connor leaned over the edge "That's it Jenny swim!" He held his hand out as Jenny attempted to swim towards him. "Connor.." Abby looked in the distance "What the hell is that?"

They watched closely before Connor spoke again "Jenny! You have to get out of the water. Quickly!" Jenny turned to see something swimming at her "Oh my god!" She quickly turned back to Connor and started swimming again.

"Come on Jenny, you'll be okay. Just swim!" She didn't move "I can't swim!" Abby looked at Connor "Come on, swim Jenny. Move your feet. Swim!"

"You're gonna have to hurry up darling. Come on, you're going to be fine."

"Swim quicker, swim quicker!" Connor urged "You can do it, keep swimming!" Abby reached out "Abby-"

"Jenny!" Connor and Abby carried on telling her to swim when Stephen and Cutter turned up "Come on Jenny here quickly.!" Cutter started pulling her onto the boat as Stephen fired at the creature. She landed in his lap and he held onto her allowing her to catch her breath.

When they got back to land they made their way to the cars so they could analyse the creature's body. None of them realised that there was another creature in the water..

* * *

Jenny leaned on the railings over-looking the main area of the ARC when Nick came over to her "How are you doing?" He smiled at her "Three months ago my idea of a life and death issue was getting front row seats at London fashion week." She turned to face him "How do you think I'm doing?"

"You don't have to do this. You can quit." As he said this, in his head he begged her to stay "I think I'll take my chances."

"Look Claudia.." She took a deep breath "I'm so sorry, er Jenny-" Turning so her whole body was facing him she smiled "Do you know what, you saved my life, so just for tonight you can call me anything you like. For the record, I really hate that name." He nodded as she smirked at him "Okay..Your fiancé does he know you're doing this?"

"He knows I'm working for the government that's all. Luckily he's not very curious, not about my work anyway." Nick nodded understanding " What about you? Do you have someone?" He looked away quickly and then looked back at her in the eye "Er, no. I'm not particularly good at that. My wife left me eight and a half years ago to go travel through the anomalies and the next woman that I liked she.." He stopped.

"She went missing.." He looked down at his shoes "When?" She stepped closer "The day you and I met."

"What was her name?" Jenny felt like she already knew the answer but wanted to ask anyway "Claudia Brown." He smiled as he said it looking back up at Jenny "Why do you call me that?"

Nick struggled to find the right words "You remind me of her a lot.. In a way you have her job. She used to work here but something went wrong in the anomaly and she was just gone." All he could feel now was pain "What did she look like?"

He laughed "Like you." Jenny tilted her head "Do you have a picture?" It hit him in the face, he has a picture he could've used that at the beginning to prove she existed. "In fact I do." He pulled his wallet from his back pocket and opened it hand it to her.

She smiled at him before looking down at the picture and dropping it "But that.." She looked up at him slightly afraid. "How do you think I feel seeing you everyday?" He crouched down and picked up his wallet "Now if you'll excuse me I have a hot date with a shark from the future."

He left her stood there in a state of shock, she now felt bad for all the times she had snapped at him for calling her Claudia. She sort of understood now, he did turn up at her house trying to explain so that helped to a certain extent.

But how could this happen? Were they two different people or the same woman? If it's the latter that means at one point she was in love with Nick Cutter and deep down Jenny knows that those feelings are true to who she is now.

o

x

o

The two avoided eachother for the rest of the day, they couldn't even stay in the same room without feeling awkward. By the end of the day the others had noticed something strange between them and took it upon themselves to find out was happening. "Jenny!" Abby quickly ran to where Jenny sat "Yes Abby?"

She shifted uncomfortably before replying with "What's wrong with you and Professor Cutter? Since we got back you've been distant and usually well you don't seem to know what personal space is.." Jenny sat there stunned with her lips parted "I'm sorry? Nothing is wrong with us, people tend to have alone time and we DO know what personal space is thank you very much."

"Have you had an argument?" She sighed, Abby wasn't going to drop it "No Abby we haven't, we were talking earlier and he told me something and now we're just well keeping distance. Okay?" Jenny looked up at the girl "What did he tell you?" Jenny flung her head back "Just go away Abby!"

This surprised Abby as Jenny was always the polite one in the team, she quickly left and went to watch Connor's attempt to talk to Cutter. "Professor?" He knocked on the door "What is it Connor?"

He stepped into the small office "You see, we've sorta noticed a thing between you and Jenny." Cutter quickly looked up from his work "What thing?" He asked eyeing the boy suspiciously "Well you two are usually really close and always talking but well today since the whole nearly eaten by a shark thing neither of you have even looked at eachother well apart from when the other is looking away."

A silence filled the room for a few seconds "Connor?"

"Yeah?"

"Get out." Connor nodded and left quickly. "Idiot." Cutter knew he would have to speak to Jenny about the whole Claudia thing but not yet.


	2. Realisation and Lies

**Okay second chapter, got 2 lovely reviews on the first but I would like to point out to the guest who bombarded me with facts telling me I was wrong I am only 14, this is based on a tv show, I'm not a historical genius and I really didn't want to research the era's I just did what I could remember from the show, so if you don't like how I've done it go read something else. Sorry for the small rant but it had to be said, the facts I put it might not be correct and I'm sorry I'm just writing this for fun, not for anything else.**

* * *

The ADD just died "What's up?" Cutter asked as he join Connor at the many monitors "I'm not sure, it just crashed." Connor pressed random keys in attempt to make it work again "Has it ever happened before?"

"No. Maybe it was some sort of power surge. Because of the anomaly. It could be a false alarm." Connor hoped for the last suggestion "But there could be an active anomaly out there right now!" Cutter replied blatantly, Connor sighed "I'll reboot it. One second. Really strange. Everything seems to be fine now." They looked at the screen equally confused "Run a full diagnostic."

"It's completely contaminated." Cutter carried on staring at the screens "Spyware." Connor nodded in agreement "Yep, allowing the user to switch the feed from here to wherever they are." Connor looked up at Cutter as he spoke "And cut us out the loop."

"It must be that guy. The cleaner! What do we do?"

"First of all find the anomaly, then clean up the detector and don't say a word to anybody." Cutter whispered the last part before walking away.

Connor looked around him before setting to work on rebooting the system "Come on, come on." A few minutes later the ADD was back up and running "Cutter! Come here!" He heard the double doors open then slam shut followed by wheels. "What is it?"

"It's fixed and we may have a chance of finding out who used the spyware." Nick nodded and watched as Connor worked. Second later they both heard the familiar sound of high heels and a certain voice "This better not be another false alarm." Nick spun on his chair to face her "Why, were you busy?"

"Engagement party." She said whilst absent-mindedly playing with clutch purse "Very nice. Anybody we know?" Connor asked "Mine actually..Not my idea, future Mother-in-Law. It's all rather dreary."

She looked at her ring in wonder "So you'd rather be with us?" Cutter inquired "I was going to say, any excuse. So yes, even you." She replied with a grin on her face. "We have an active site."

Jenny nodded "Right well I'll get changed."She turned to walk away but Nick shook his head "No there's no time. The anomaly's been open for two hours, maybe longer." She parted her lips slightly and pointed at him "Right, well, if I break a heel, you're gonna pay." She smirked walking away.

They both spun on their chairs and watched her as she did her typical hair flip "She looks amazing." Connor stated "So does a Philosoraptor." Nick spun back to the ADD wishing he had said something along the lines of 'She looks beautiful...'

o

x

o

Cutter strode across the dusty ground whilst Jenny tottered behind him in her golden heels "It's over here. It's in the drainage pipe. You'll have to contact the builders and close this site down." They both looked down the pipe "Sure. I'll throw some building code violations at them." Silence fell over them as they realised something was coming out of the anomaly "Back up, back up!"

Nick expected some blood thirsty dinosaur but instead got a small dog, he quickly picked it up and passed it to Jenny "What am I supposed to do with it? It's called Sprat and - it lives a few streets from here." He looked at her "She. It's a she."

"She is shedding hair on my new dress." Jenny tried holding her at arms length but couldn't because she was to heavy "We've got bigger problems than your new dress. The owner might be on the other side."

He called up the others and had them bring down the gear. "Seriously, guys, prepare to be amazed." Connor exclaimed pulling a small mechanic from his box which earned smirks from the rest of the group "What? It's a prototype. Not meant to be sexy." He murmured setting it down in front of the pipe.

"That's not gonna make it through the pipe, let alone the anomaly." Stephen queried "Can we have faith, please? And a little bit of silence? Thank you." Connor picked up his remote and set it into action "Is that my hair dryer?" Asked Abby "Might be.." Connor uttered shuffling away from her slightly.

"Now I know what Galileo had to put up with." They watched the small prototype roll through the anomaly "High CO2, low oxygen." Connor informed. "It's pre-Carboniferous. Maybe Ordovician or Silurian." Cutter responded before carrying on "There's no dinosaurs, no mammals, and there's no birds."

They all stood around the laptop taking in the current surroundings, when Connor zoomed in slightly "Wait, whats that?" Cutter asked pointing at the screen "It's a little girl.." Jenny stepped closer "What is she doing?"

Cutter thought back to what had come out of the anomaly earlier "She's looking for her dog."

"She might be injured." Abby inquired slightly worried.

"There's nothing in the Silurian to injure her. We're talking a few basic plants and bugs." Connor shrugged "How big are the bugs? " He hesitated "Bug size, I think. As periods go it's a safe one to get lost in." None of them knew how wrong Connor was.

They spent 10 minutes deciding on what was going to happen and how they were going to handle it, they decided it would be best for Cutter and Stephen to go in and help her, whilst Connor, Abby and Jenny watched the outside to make sure nothing else comes through.

* * *

"I should go tell her parents that she's fallen down a pipe just incase they're panicking." Connor and Abby nodded in agreement as Jenny walked off down the alley.

By the time Jenny reaches the flats she has a deep hatred for Cutter, he wouldn't let her change which has now resulted in her feet being in a lot of pain and a possibility of them being covered in blisters. Her knuckled banged on the cold hard wood as she waited for the residents to answer "Can I help you?" A slightly dishevelled man answered the door "Yes, I'm here about you're daughter." He hurried her inside offering her a seat they began talking.

"She was where?" He asked nearly on the edge of his seat "She fell down a pipe." Jenny said in a calm manner "She fell down a pipe? Look, I've got to do something. Where is she?" He went to stand but Jenny sat him back down "Steve, let the experts do their job."

"I need to help!" He persisted " The best thing you can do is just wait here." He sat down and leaned back in his chair tears slowly forming in his eyes, Jenny had never seen a man cry. In all honesty she had never seen anyone cry, she tried to stay away from these situations because she never knew what to do.

She sat and watched him for a while when he spoke again "I thought she'd run away. But I've I've been trying my best. I'm not her real dad, okay? Her mum-" Jenny cut him off "I'll let you know the moment there's any news." She was never one for hearing life stories unless she asked about it, and it's not that she has no sympathy it's just she feels awkward when people tell her stuff she doesn't really want to know.

Giving him a quick pat on the shoulder she left the small apartment taking a deep breath of the fresh air walking back to the small site where the anomaly sat. On the other side Cutter and Stephen had just ran away from a bunch of gigantic bugs and were now going over the rocks with the small girl whose name was Taylor.

They had managed to get pretty far from where the anomaly was and had finally found another when a sandstorm hit. They all quickly jumped into the giant craters in the rocks waiting for it to pass over, but Cutter had dropped the small ADD which meant if they didn't find it they wouldn't be going home anytime soon.

Connor, Jenny and Abby stood outside the pipe "It's gone.." The words barely left Jenny's lips, it felt like her heart had stopped, she didn't quite understand why but that's how she felt. Maybe she would feel like that if anyone she worked with was lost in another world.

Or she actually felt something for Nick Cutter, but she shouldn't she was getting married. She was marrying the man she loved so why does it bother her so much that she might never see Nick again?

She quickly shook the feelings off and turned to Connor "Will it open again?" Abby looked at Connor with hope in her eyes "I-I don't know, maybe. But I don't when, if it does."

Taking out her phone Jenny dialled Lester explaining the situation, he told them to come in so they could sort it out. So they did just that, They packed all the equipment away and drove back to the ARC.

"What are the chances of it reopening?" Lester sat at his desk looking up at the remainder of the ream "Some do, some don't. But it could be tomorrow. Or it could be in a thousand years, we just don't know. That's the problem." Connor looked around the room awkwardly "I'm sorry, James. We may have to accept that we've lost them." Jenny sighed.

James finally decided on making Abby and Connor the leaders of the team, as excited as they were about it they didn't like it, this job belonged to Cutter.

o

x

o

Cutter, Stephen and Taylor had just fought off the two giant bugs and turned them against eachother and were sliding down the side of the hill in order to get to the new anomaly "Are we going home now?" Taylor looked at Cutter and Stephen "We're going somewhere." They ran through the anomaly almost falling over when they got to the other side.

They took in their surroundings "We're not at home, but at least there's no sand." They were all thankful for the no sand "Any guesses where we are?" They started to walk through the thick amounts of fern "Well, the air's normal. Woodland looks familiar, it's gotta be within the last few thousand years."

Stephen quickly ran ahead "Hey, look! Middle Palaeolithic." They stood around a small native styled camp "Stephen, we gotta get away from here." Cutter tensed up as he heard footsteps coming towards him, turning he saw a caveman and instantly pulled his fists up punching him in the face. He knocked him to the ground which was when he realised his mistake "That doesn't look right."

They tilted their heads to see where the cavemans skirt had come up showing a pair of superman underwear. " I think I just punched an actor!"

"Yeah!" They looked at the caveman for a few more seconds until they heard a familiar voice "I knew you'd make it back!" As much as Connor annoyed Cutter he missed the kid.

If it weren't for Lester the caveman would have most likely sued Cutter who was now taking Taylor back home. He could hear Jenny talking to who he assumed would be Taylor's father "I'm so sorry, Steve. We did all we could-"

"No! No, you said-" Cutter and Taylor just came up the stairs gaining her father attention "You're OK! Oh God, I've been so worried. If anything had happened to you..." He held her in his arms as tight as he could "You're upset?" She looked at him slightly confused "Of course I'm upset. I love you! Listen, Taylor, I miss your mum too."

"Yeah? I know. Sorry Steve." He chuckled and hugged her again "Guess what, I've been back millions of years in the past and almost got eaten by giant scorpions." He looked up at Cutter and Jenny who shrugged at him "Of course you have, darling. Of course you have. Thank you."

They smiled at the man as he took Taylor inside "I thought I was never gonna see you again." Jenny confessed not daring to look him in the eye "Bet you were devastated!" She answered by flinging her arms around his neck and hugging him "Miss me that much?" He patted her back as she stepped back "Don't think I would have been able to put up with Connor." She smiled "Nice to know I'm wanted."

"Yeah well anyway we should go back because I really want to get changed." He laughed and started walking down the stairs to his car "Need a ride?" He asked opening the door "Yeah thanks." They both got into the car and set of to the ARC "Didn't know you were the hugging type." Cutter stated stealing a quick glance at her "I'm not usually but I decided to make an exception today."

He laughed again concentrating on the road "So when's the wedding?" They stopped at a red light "Two months today. Why?" He shrugged "Just trying to make conversation I guess. You better hope there's no anomaly that day." He advised putting the car back into gear getting ready to go again "Depends if the wedding still happens." She responded leaning her head again he car window.

"What do you mean?"

"I've been feeling different lately, I don't love him like I did. I think I'm starting to fall for someone else." Nick didn't ask another question after that letting an awkward silence settle around them. They stayed this way until they got back to the ARC "Thanks for the lift." Jenny said quickly before practically jumping out of the car.

* * *

The ADD went off again later that day, none of them wanted to go but they had to. It was their job.

"Where is it this time Connor?" He looked at the screen nervously "I don't think it's an anomaly, it's too powerful.." Cutter looked at the screen "I think you may be right but what we should be worrying about is the fact that it's down the corridor." He quickly stood and ran off through the large double doors. The others glanced at the monitor running out to follow Cutter who stood in the plant life lab. "What the hell is that thing?" Stephen asked standing by Cutter "I have no idea but it is definitely not an anomaly."

On the wall was a white light with hints of blue on the edge, it was like an anomaly but completely different. They all looked into it slightly concerned and afraid "Abby I want the area sectioned off."

"On it." Abby quickly ran out the room to the security room "Connor I want you to measure all the different magnetic levels. Stephen, I want nobody coming in here under any circumstances and Jenny, I need you to have several CCTV cameras put in here."

Cutter went with Connor to the ADD mainly because he didn't want to be alone if something deadly came through and also he didn't really trust Connor to do the job properly, the CCTV cameras had been connected to one of the monitors which was occupied by Cutter and the other screens were covered in graphs reading the different sets of data from the 'not anomaly'.

"Um, Professor you should look at this!" Nick lifted his head, the data was off the scale. Something was really wrong. Was it Helen? Were the anomalies evolving? He just didn't know.

Looking between the screens a giant white flash came from the one containing the CCTV "What on earth was that?" Connor asked looking at the screen quizzically "I think something came through.." They looked at eachother before shouting in unison "Stephen!" Scrambling from their chairs towards the door they shouted his name repeatedly running at full speed.

"Stephen!" Cutter crouched beside his body and checked his pulse "It must have knocked him unconscious whatever it was." They propped Stephen up against the wall so he wouldn't be trampled on. "We best find whatever came through and fast." Calling up the others he warned them that something dangerous may have come through into the ARC, it was agreed to meet up in the main section so they could make a plan and find it.

Nick signalled to Connor to follow him but stay on guard. They reached the central hall in 15 minutes, finding everyone was already there. "So Cutter, what's the plan?" Jenny asked eagerly, he wrung his hands together "Well first we need to try find it on the security system, and then we need to know if it's actually dangerous or just a harmless creature." Everyone nodded watching Connor bring up all the different cameras based around the building, but nothing showed up except for them. Whatever it was it was very clever.

All the other staff had chosen to stay in the main hall as it was 'safer' than anywhere else. Thinking up a plan they didn't notice the body running past the cameras, heading straight for them.

It wasn't until they heard the sound of footsteps.

The group stood in front of the door waiting for whatever was coming, the steps gradually getting louder and louder, Abby, Stephen and Jenny all had guns raised but Nick held his hand up hoping they wouldn't fire.

It was so close now, mere metres away.

Then they stopped right outside of the door.

Before they could think anything of it the doors flung open, and what was on the other ran straight to Cutter.

"Nick!" They breathed into his ear, arms currently wrapped around his neck "Claudia Brown." He whispered into her hair snaking his arms around her waist, face buried in the crook of her neck. "I thought you was dead." He gripped her tighter, in fear that she might disappear again.

She laughed "Not quite, needed to get back home. Wasn't to keen on dying in an alternate reality." Nick pulled back so he could look at her "It's actually you, and as cheesy as this may sound I have missed you. A lot." Claudia smiled at him leaning up pecking him on the lips. "Big place you have here. Slightly different layout to what I'm used to, so I got lost."

"You had your own version of the ARC?" She nodded "I basically had your world except you weren't there, we had some guy called James Barratt. Not quite as good as you." Cutter chuckled pulling her in for another hug.

"Ahem!?" Nick had almost forgotten about everyone else "Cutter are you going to tell us what is going on?" Of course it was Jenny, she was the only one that tried to tell Cutter what to do, he never listened so he didn't understand why she bothered. How was he going to explain this? Two of the same woman. "Well you see.." He turned showing them Claudia "This is Claudia Brown."

A stage like gasp filled the room, he couldn't help but roll his eyes. "But that's impossible." Connor was the first to state the obvious. Claudia waved to everyone after tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "I feel like I've just interrupted something." Claudia enquired looking at Nick "Did I?"

"No but you have scared the living daylights out of everyone, maybe more Jenny." Claudia's eyebrow went up "Jenny?" He nodded and pointed to the brunette who currently had her mouth slightly open. The redhead however did not react "I see, well it's nothing new to me I guess seeing as something similar happened in the other world. Except I had a new you, but you were much more blegh." He laughed at her description. "I could say the same about the new you but I think she'd kill me."

"Jenny is more aggressive than you. And more into dressing up, unless she's been attacked, dragged into water or having anything to do with anomalies. Oh and also she doesn't listen to anything I say." Claudia giggled quietly whilst the brunette scowled, Connor however advanced towards Claudia with his brow furrowed before stumbling back slightly. "Oh god, I remember. Claudia!" He flung his arms around her pulling her into his embrace.

She sighed hugging him back "Okay you can let go now Connor." He quickly let go mumbling "Sorry. I just don't get how I forgot you, I mean you're Claudia brown, the one who had us covered from the press, worked by Lesters side. Couldn't keep away from the Professor." He winked on his last statement. "Come to think of it, Jenny is just like you but meaner and more into girlyness. But she also has a thing for the Professor." He said wiggling his eyebrows. Both Nick and Claudia laughed at this "I think you should stop talking Connor otherwise you won't be here for much longer." Nick pointed at Jenny who was slowly turning red.

"I will have you know Connor I am in a happy relationship, and I am also getting married soon so I do NOT have a 'thing' for Professor Cutter! Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to leave now before someone ends up dead!" She shot Connor a glare as she stomped out of the room. Stephen, Abby, Nick and Claudia all burst into a fit of laughter whilst Connor's face was full of fear.

Cutter squeezed Claudia's hand "I best go see if Jenny's okay, she's not as tough as she seems." He smiled and made his way out of the room. Claudia took the time to go see Lester, reaching the the door she knocked "Hello James." He looked up briefly "Ah Jenny, I need you to take these to Leek he should be in lab four." He picked up a file and held it out to her. Claudia let out a laugh "I think you'll find I'm not Jenny, my name is Claudia Brown." Lester sighed and rolled his eyes still holding the file out to her. "Jenny, stop acting like a child and take these too Leek. "

Claudia huffed "For goodness sake, I am _not _Jenny Lewis. Honestly, you're thicker than I remember. Are you blind? There is a clear difference between me and Jenny." She held up her hair to make a point to which Lester's eyes widened. She left the room not giving him the chance to reply to her.

Meanwhile, Cutter walked around the corridors aimlessly in hope of finding Jenny, he stopped and looked in every door he passed in hope that she was there. Nick couldn't help but grin like an idiot as he walked. She was back, Claudia Brown. His Claudia Brown was back and he was never going to let her go, not ever. He's already lost her once, there is a slight chance he wouldn't survive the next time. And then Jenny showed up. It was like a bullet to the chest, but over time she's grown on him and now she means something to him. Yes she was annoying at times, but there were moments where he couldn't help but love her. He also tended to forget that she wasn't Claudia, that was his worst habit when he was around her, and when he did forget well... He was alway lost in the moment. It was amazing how one woman could change everything a man ever thought, not even Helen had made him feel that way.

He must have been really out of it to walk into a door which was then opened "Cutter? What on earth are you doing?" He was sprawled out on the floor "Well I was coming to find you and well I must have zoned out and hit the door." He quickly scrambled to his feet, trying his hardest not to flush with embarrassment. "And you was looking for me because...?" Why was he looking for her? Because he felt the need to make sure she was okay? He didn't really know why, there was no reason, it had just become a thing to make sure she's okay.

He'd done it again. He had zoned out. "Cutter!" She snapped her fingers in her face "Yes sorry, well you seemed a bit, I don't know. Upset?"

"Not upset. More along the lines of embarrassed and annoyed." Cutter chuckled and placed a hand on her shoulder "I don't see why you're embarrassed, we all know what Connor said is all nonsense anyway, he just likes to make up dramas in his head." Jenny wanted to agree but she couldn't, her cheeks slowly began to turn a light shade of red. "Yeah, whatever you say." In her head she was screaming, dying almost. She was falling for this idiot, but how?

Nick leant down to her level "Are you sure you're alright? Is there any problem at all?" She shook her head not trusting her voice, at the moment she didn't want to blurt out that she had feelings for him. It wouldn't have been as bad if Claudia hadn't come back, but now it was all to complicated. This job was complicated, her life was now forever complicated.

There was nothing she could do about it but lie.


End file.
